


Term-Time (A Collection of Incidents in School)

by jordahparrish



Category: The Lodge (UK TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-18 17:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12393186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordahparrish/pseuds/jordahparrish
Summary: A series of short fics detailing what happened in school before Skye was ever in the picture.





	1. Incident # 1: The Pyjama Day

**Author's Note:**

> These are NOT in chronological order.

“After spending a lengthy time contemplating whether I should wear my actual sleeping get up or not, I decided against it,” Sean announced loudly as he made his way towards Kaylee, Noah, Danielle and Ana, Ben was a little way behind him – having taken extra time fighting with his bike lock, “I don’t think they’d be too happy with me in my underwear.”

“Or nothing,” Danielle commented briefly.

“Sometimes it gets hot and I need to be free,” Sean excused himself and let out a laugh, “how attractive are these though? Plaid through and through, just like our Big Bad Benjamin – I feel like a true Scotsman right now.”

“A true Scotsman would probably be wearing no underwear,” Ben spoke as he stopped next to Sean.

“Ay, how do you know I’m not?” Ben raised an eyebrow at Sean and the boy only grinned back at him, after a moment he whispered, “you can have a peek if you want.”

“No, I’m good,” Ben laughed, shaking his head and backing away, “I’ve seen enough of you already.”

“And the arse incident falls back into all of our minds,” Noah commented, staring up at the sky, “that’s never leaving our memory, is it?”

“I can assure you, two of you have seen more than just that.” 

“Excuse me?” Danielle stared at him in disbelieve, her arms crossed and eyebrows raised, “sorry,” she turned to Kaylee and Ana who were stood side by side, “which one of you has seen more of my boyfriend than that? Hm?”

Kaylee and Ana stared at the girl wideeyed, she looked as though she could literally kill either of them in a split second.

“Danielle!” Ben’s voice made her spin around, her hair whipping back and just missing Kaylee and Ana’s faces, “chill, I’m the one who’s seen more of Sean. Mishaps in a swimming pool.”

“He was struggling to keep up with me and pulled my trunks down,” Sean laughed, “and were you impressed, Benjamin?”

Ben scrunched up his face and shook his head, he leaned forward to the group and then whispered, “mine is bigger.”

“Oh my God!” Kaylee shrieked, “why are you boys like this?”

“It’s all in the competition Kayls,” Ben threw up his arms, “Seany boy and I will be competing, day in, day out – and guess who’ll always come on top of Sean?”

“Other than Danielle, of course,” Sean commented briefly before winking to his girlfriend.

“Sean!”

“Perhaps I could have phrased my words better,” Ben did his best not to laugh as he looked between his best friend and Danielle.

“I’m confused,” Ana raised her hand politely, “I don’t get what… Was…”

“We’re not going into detail,” Kaylee sighed, placing a hand on Ana’s shoulder, “I think that’s a talk for you and Ben, another day. Today, we should just… Take in the joy of pyjama day!”

“Ah,” Ben flung his bag around to his front and quickly unzipped it, he pulled out a teddy bear and held it to his chest after putting his bag back on his back, “everyone, meet my very special friend – Kenneth.”

“You called your bear Kenneth?” Danielle scoffed, “gross.”

“Leave Kenneth alone.”

“This whole day is so stupid,” Danielle sighed, “wear pyjamas? I’d much prefer to wear my school uniform!”

“Babe,” Sean called out to Danielle in a lovey tone, “don’t complain, you look really cute!” Danielle groaned, and as she did Sean moved over to her, he wrapped an arm around her and let out a laugh, “come on, it’s all for charity!”

Danielle stopped complaining, she let out a sigh, “fine, but I still think we could have done something better!”

Ben did his best not to laugh at the girl, he ended up ducking his head when she glared at him.

“At least I didn’t bring in a stupid teddy with me.”

“Stupid teddy?” Ben looked up again, “I’ve had this ‘stupid teddy’ with me for years, since I was born - actually.”

“Oh, how sentimental,” Danielle rolled her eyes.

Ben let out a scoff of bitter laughter, “why are you like this?”

“Guys!” Sean stood between the two, “can you… Not argue? Please? It’s charity pyjama day, let’s have a good day, yeah?”

Ben looked at Danielle, and then turned away, after a moment he threw the teddy back into his bag and walked away - just as the bell began to ring.

“He’s so dramatic,” Danielle pulled a face, “and pathetic.”

“Maybe you should be a bit nicer,” Ana commented to Danielle, offering her a sweet smile, “I think he’s really sweet.”

Danielle frowned at the girl, “well maybe in Norway, things are different, that boy is in no way sweet.”

* * * * * 

“Have I told you how much I appreciate your look today,” Kaylee grinned to Noah as she sat opposite him in the lunch hall, “What a look.”

”I make it work,” Noah held out his arms, he was wearing a set of pyjamas just like everyone else, but what really brought his look together was the grey dressing gown he was wearing - it was a soft dressing gown with a hood that was decorated with mouse ears.

“Little mousey Noah,” Kaylee giggled, reaching out and playing with one of the ears.

“This is cute,” Sean took a seat next to Noah, “the little lovebirds.”

Ben nodded in agreement, “it’s actually quite precious.”

“Shut up,” Kaylee hit Ben’s shoulder when the boy was sat down next to her.

“Has anyone set eyes on the evil queen yet,” Sean teased to the others, and they knew who he meant.

Ben pulled a face, “she’s your girlfriend, Sean. You shouldn’t really refer to her like that…”

“Says the boy who was arguing with her earlier,” Sean retorted.

Ben rolled his eyes quickly and leaned forward, “yeah well, if you don’t actually like her, maybe you should just break up with her! Then she won’t be hanging around us 24/7. Problem solved.”

“It’s not that easy,” Sean sighed, after a moment of silence, Danielle turned up with Ana in tow. Ana walked around the table and sat next to Ben, smiling to the boy briefly. After returning the smile, Ben’s focus turned back to Danielle and Sean. The girl was close to Sean and grinning next to him, she seemed to be infatuated by the boy - but Ben, Kaylee, and Noah all knew the way Sean truly felt about her. 

“Gross,” Ben whispered after Danielle kissed Sean’s cheek. 

“Oh, got a problem, Ben?”

Ben rolled his eyes, he looked around, “downside to pyjama day,” he changed the subject swiftly, “I almost fell asleep in Mr. Garret’s History class.”

“Did you have your little teddy bear with you?” Danielle taunted, pulling a face at Ben.

“Yes, actually,” Ben let out a sigh after answering.

“Aw, little baby Ben,” Danielle laughed, but nobody else was humoured by her taunting, “did you need a a blanket and a bottle too?”

Ben rolled his eyes at Danielle and glared at his best friend, he wondered why Sean didn’t so anything about his girlfriend. Why he decided he’d rather suffer being with someone he didn’t actually like. It just seemed so stupid. But that was Sean.


	2. Incident #2: Sean's Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean's been telling his friend's a few lies about his family life, and one person accidentally finds out the truth.

Danielle closed her locker and looked around the school hallway. She pressed her lips together and thought about what she had discovered just the other week. So it was no secret she and Sean were together, they were practically the most popular couple in school, but what was a secret was who Sean really was.

He had made himself out to be some sort of pity case, a boy who’s parents couldn’t get good work, as though he were part of a family who could barely afford to put dinner on the table. Everybody believed it of course, and everybody loved Sean - saying he was good at making do with what he had.

There was one problem.

Sean’s dad wasn’t a man who would deliver pizzas for extra money, and his mother wasn’t working part time in some floral shop. Sean’s dad was, in fact, a business man. His mother, working a highly paid office job. In the drive to their house, two cars, two very expensive cars. The house alone looked somewhat like a mansion, no wonder Sean never had guests. 

Danielle only found out by chance, and perhaps it’s where their relationship sprung from. She had been with her mum one day, whilst she was making a business deal - and so she was sat in Gil Matthew’s kitchen, on her phone taking several photos. She flicked through them and decided which ones she liked, which ones she’d delete. She heard something hit the floor, first she looked at the floor - at the feet of somebody was a bike helmet. She slowly looked up at the boy, and to her surprise, Sean Matthews was stood there - wearing clothes that the Sean Matthews from school would not be able to afford. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” He snapped, picking up his bike helmet and storming over to the girl, “what do you think- Why are you- you need to leave! Now!”

“No way,” Danielle stood up, with a grin on her face, “I’m here with my mother.”

“Olivia?” Sean looked around, “she’s your mother? Oh great…”

“And Gil Matthews is your dad,” Danielle let out a quick laugh, “so much for the pizza delivery man, huh?”

“Danielle…”

“Why have you been lying? Hm? Why not just tell everyone you own a house that’s practically the same size of the school?” She crossed her arms, “why tell people you can barely afford to pay for hot water when you clearly can?”

“I don’t want… I don’t want people to think I’m some snobby rich kid,” Sean admitted.

Danielle raised an eyebrow, “people don’t think that about me.”

Sean hesitated, he placed his helmet on the table and leaned forward to look at Danielle, “oh, don’t they?”

“Do they?”

Sean slowly nodded, and he then took a seat, “look, now that you know about this… You can’t tell anybody.”

Danielle let out a brief laugh, “Fine…”

“Thank you!”

“But…”

“Oh God.”

“You and I are going to go on a date,” she stood up proudly, “maybe more, depends how I feel about you after the first one.”

Sean watched Danielle cautiously, but he then began to nod, “okay, yeah, sure! Us two, going on a date,” he let out a laugh, “cool.”

“I won’t tell anybody a word about your little… Or rather, big, secret.”

“Thank you, Danielle, thank you so much!”


	3. The Caretaker's Cupboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noah and Kaylee get irritated by the constant arguing between Danielle and Ben, so they decide to sort them out.

Danielle squealed as she rushed through the corridor, “this day is about charity, and our school makes it into a prank day!”

“It’s more than that,” Ben laughed, “if you get caught pulling your prank - you’re charged £1. Plus, there’s the stalls that will be up from lunchtime onwards, and of course not to forget - throwing sponges at the teachers!”

“Oh, I want to throw one at Ms. Johnson!” Noah clapped his hands together.

“She’s your favourite,” Kaylee pointed out.

“I know,” Noah nodded, “that’s why I want to do it, for the bants.”

“For the bants?” Danielle repeated with a disgusted look, “that’s such a… Stupid saying.”

“You’re a stupid saying,” Ben responded instantly.

Danielle gasped and pushed Ben, “why are you so immature?”

Ben mimicked Danielle and glared at her, he then held onto his upper arm, “don’t push people, there’s no need to be violent.”

“Oh, you don’t even know the half of it.”

Throughout this exchange, Kaylee and Noah were looking at each other - and seemingly communicating even though they were staying quiet. In that silent discussion, they had managed to agree to take part in the prank day - not even caring if they got caught pulling off the prank, it would still be a great one. Danielle walked away, and Ben then walked in the opposite direction - so Kaylee and Noah could finally speak.

“So, here’s what I’m thinking,” Noah began quickly, “the caretakers cupboard!”

“Lock them in?”

“Lock them in!”

“Do you think it could end badly?”

Noah cocked his head in thought, he began to hum before shaking his head, “nah, nothing too bad!”

* * * * *   
It was lunchtime when Noah and Kaylee’s plan went into action - Noah would get Ben, and Kaylee would get Danielle. Kaylee told Danielle the white lie that the caretaker had picked up her folder and was refusing to give it back, so she begged Danielle to see if she could find the folder in the cupboard - claiming to be claustrophobic and unable to go into the cupboard. Danielle gave in and wandered into the open the cupboard, she went to speak to Kaylee, but the door closed behind her and she then heard a lock - the lock inside of the door was a key lock - meaning she couldn’t open it, since apparently Kaylee had the keys. She had been shouting to begin with but after a few minutes, she gave up - realising the havoc in the school corridor would drown out her shouting. 

Noah had began to excitedly explain a story to Ben, Sean had wandered off at some point during it to check out the stalls they had set up for the charity. 

“I’m not even kidding, Ben, I definitely saw a dead cat in there!” He made the boy follow him through the corridor, “I really think the caretaker is into taxidermy! Look, I’ll prove it to you.”

“Oh yeah? How will you do that? The caretaker locks the cupboard, and he’s not in on Friday afternoons!”

Noah held up the set of keys - Kaylee had passed them to him after locking Danielle inside, “not too hard to get to be honest.”

“Okay, so are you some kind of pickpocket now?”

“Just come on!” Noah began to jog quickly through the hallway, avoiding several students who had dressed up in costume for the day. He waited for Ben to get close to the door, “okay so, it’s like on the top shelf - you have to go in to see it, it’s really weird!”

“I can’t believe you’re making me look at a dead cat!”

“This is important Ben!” Noah hissed, he then unlocked the door. As he opened it, without a second of hesitation, he pushed Ben inside and then slammed it shut - locking it once again.

Danielle screamed as Ben fell into her, she fell back into the shelves and glared up at the boy who was holding onto one of the shelves to brace himself. 

“What the hell, Ben?”

“I was pushed!” Ben defended himself quickly, “what are you doing in here?”

“Kaylee locked me in,” Danielle crossed her arms once Ben backed away from her, “she tricked me.”

Ben was looking around the cupboard, “Noah tricked me too, he said there was a dead cat in here.”

Danielle snorted out a laugh, “that’s preposterous. Kaylee told me the caretaker had her music folder in here and wouldn’t give it back.”

“Caretaker doesn’t work Friday afternoons,” Ben sighed, he leaned back against the door, “so you were kind of foolish.”

“You believed there was a dead cat in here!”

“The caretaker’s creepy,” he shrugged, he began looking around, “so…”

They spent a while in silence, Ben still looking around and Danielle looking up every now and then. She wasn’t exactly aware of how long it had been, but eventually, Danielle spoke up again.

“I was looking for a spare key before you came in, but I can’t find any.”

“Noah has the spare key,” Ben informed Danielle, “the caretaker takes his main set of keys home and leaves the spare set here.”

“Great,” Danielle sat down on the floor and crossed her arms over her knees, “well, we’ll be out soon! Right?”

Ben hesitated, and then sat down opposite the girl, “I don’t know… The stalls in the lunch hall go on all afternoon, no lessons… No lessons means… No registration.”

Danielle groaned and leaned her head back, “well, I guess they only want one of us to leave alive.”

“Mm,” Ben let out a quiet laugh, “well it was nice knowing you – I’ll let Sean know you loved him.”

“What makes you so sure you’d win?” Danielle straightened up and glared at the boy, “I’m stronger than you think.”

“Oh sure,” Ben laughed once again, “I’d beat you in a fight any day.” 

“No way.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be that hard, Danielle. You’d probably break a nail and cry.”

Danielle grunted and sat back against the shelves again, “or do you just think you’re better because you’re a boy?”

“Now you’re trying to make me seem sexist?”

“Well?”

“No! That’s not it, it’s just that you are the kind of girl that would cry about a broken nail.”

Danielle sighed, “right,” she let her head fall back slightly, and she began to look around at the shelves, “you know… We could always try to pick the lock…”

“Do you know how to do that?”

“No… But I can give it a try,” Danielle sighed, she pulled a hair grip out of her hair and looked at it, “I’ve seen people use these in movies.”

“Good start, but you don’t know what to do next.”

Danielle rolled her eyes and pulled out a second hair grip, she examined the two hair grips curiously. Then she began to bend one of them, and she even took the grip in her teeth to wear of the nub at the end. Ben watched curiously as the girl seemed to know at least a little bit about what she was doing. She moved over to the door and pushed both hairgrips into the lock. Ben watched over her shoulder as she moved the hair grips around randomly.

“This isn’t working, Danielle,” Ben shook his head, but Danielle continued to try, “just give up!”

Danielle groaned, “stop complaining!” She continued to move the grips about. They sat in silence, Ben focused on the girl, he was actually smiling as he watched her focus on her task – he saw a different side of Danielle, and it was weird.

There was a sudden click, Danielle’s eyes went wide, she turned the grips and grinned, “pull the handle!”

Ben did as instructed and sure enough the door opened.

“Oh my God,” he let out a laugh as he and Danielle stood up again, “you… You did it!”

“Still think you’d beat me in a fight?” Danielle turned to him, grinning.

“You can pick a lock,” Ben spoke quietly, leaning closer to his best friend’s girlfriend, “that doesn’t exactly make you the greatest fighter.”

Danielle rolled her eyes, “I’m just glad I’m out of there, and I don’t have to spend too long near you.”

“Charming.”


	4. Incident #4: Julie and The Handstand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some would advise you to ignore a bully, Noah Potts doesn't abide by that advice.

Kaylee sat down in front of Noah, clearly irritated by something. He looked at her, trying to catch her eye, but he jumped when she stabbed the food in front of her with a fork. He cleared his throat and Kaylee eventually looked up.

“What’s up with you?”

“Oh,” Kaylee dropped her fork and sighed, “it just… It’s nothing.”

“Clearly,” Noah rolled his eyes, “come on Kayls, tell me what’s wrong!”

Kaylee pulled a face and fidgeted in her seat, “it’s Julie… She… She just,” Kaylee grunted, “she was making fun of me earlier, saying how I’m not a good singer and you only hype me up because you don’t want to be mean to me.”

“That’s not a little bit true,” Noah defended Kaylee quickly, he leaned forward, “you’re amazing, Kayls… Julie has no idea what she’s talking about!”

“Her aunt has a record label,” Kaylee pouted, “she knows what she’s on about.”

“Simon Cowell’s relatives don’t necessarily know what good music is, Kayls…”

“Still,” Kaylee picked up her fork and stabbed another piece of her food, “why can’t she leave me alone?”

“She feeds off of other people’s sorrow,” Noah leaned forward as he spoke in a ‘horror novel voice’, “like some kind of… Angst Vampire!”

Kaylee snorted out a laugh, “Angst Vampire? That suits her.”

“You know what, I’ll get payback, she can’t just make fun of you and expect nothing back! Not when Noah Potts gets involved.”

“Oh, what a threat,” Kaylee joked, “the evil schemes of Noah Potts!”

“I’ve pulled off many an evil scheme,” Noah scoffed confidently, “and trust me,” he held his head high, “I’ll get her back,” he winked to her and then tapped his chin, “I’ll find a way.”  
* * * * *  
It was in their Physical Education lesson when Noah figured he could embarrass Julie in some way, they had been set into five groups – each having to do or attempt a task for a certain amount of day. One task was sitting up against the wall.

“The good old toilet lunge,” Noah whispered to Kaylee as the teacher talked them through each task.

The second was press ups – which several people audibly groaned at, including Danielle and Julie. The third, handstands, supported by partners – Noah cocked his head and hummed in wonder. He already knew that he, Kaylee, Danielle, Julie, Ben, and Sean would be in a group together. He leaned to Kaylee and quickly whispered.

“You’re going with Danielle for this.”

“What?” Kaylee turned, looking offended by Noah’s choice.

“Just trust me.”

The fourth task was an assault course that the teacher had set up before the class, and the fifth was to hold a plank for two minutes – that was a dreaded one.

The teacher instructed each group to go to a certain task, Noah’s group started on the press-ups, and Danielle was clearly not pleased.

“Come on, Danielle,” Sean laughed as he began doing the press ups, “you’re going to be good at this.”

“What makes you say that?” Danielle glared over at him.

Sean let out a quick laugh, “babe, you’re good at it. I mean, really, you love being on top. It's basically the same thing.”

“Sean!” Danielle screeched, and collapsed from her first attempted press-up.

“Why do you always have to make comments like that?” Kaylee scoffed to Sean.

Ben pulled a face to his best friend, "yeah, and it's really not alike, unless you guys are having some weird sex."

"I know what I meant," Sean tutted, "plus come on Ben, I know more than you, my lovely little virgin."

"I've seen plenty of porn, I probably know more than you."

“Stop talking about sex, it’s not attractive,” Julie sneered, “it’s just stupid.”

Kaylee rolled her eyes when she heard Julie’s voice, and Noah smiled to his friend before speaking, “you know what else isn’t attractive?”

“What?” Julie glared over to Noah.

“Girls who think they’re better than everyone else.”

“I don’t know,” Ben laughed, “some would argue Danielle is quite attractive.”

“Hey!” Danielle snapped to Ben, “I don’t think I’m better than everyone!”

“I was actually talking abou-“

The teacher approached the group, “this is meant to be done in silence, you know that, Mr. Potts!”

“Sorry sir,” Noah dropped his head and continued to do the press ups.

They continued the task until the whistle was blown for them to move onto the next task. Kaylee quickly paired up with Danielle, as Noah had requested, and Ben paired up with Sean. Noah watched Sean struggle getting into a handstand and he began to grin. Julie begrudgingly paired up with Noah, she went into a handstand, kicking her legs up into Noah’s grip. She found it easy stabilising herself in the handstand, whilst next to them – Sean fell over and Ben broke into laughter. Julie gracefully stood up again from the handstand and then stood ready for Noah.

“Go!” She snapped when the boy had begun to focus on what the others were doing.

“Oh, right,” he smiled to her and then went into a handstand – now, Noah knew how to do a handstand, he didn’t need support… He knew that he was kicking his legs up harder than needed. His foot didn’t go into Julie’s grip, instead if hit her in the face – he knew that for sure when he heard her let out a scream. Sean dropped Ben from his handstand and the boys were trying not to break into laughter. Kaylee stared at Noah, and then she slowly began to chuckle. Danielle backed away and squealed when she noticed that the girl had started bleeding.

“You did that on purpose!” Julie shouted at the boy, holding her nose.

“Did I?”

Julie screamed again, and stormed over to the teacher, Noah let out a quick chuckle.

“Noah, why did you do that?” Ben asked as he leaned over to the boy.

"It was an accident."

Kaylee smiled over to Noah, she brushed a free strand of hair away, she mouthed the words 'thank you' to him and he winked back to her. Hopefully, Julie would think twice before saying anything mean to Kaylee again.


	5. Incident #5: How Ben and Sean met...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing will be more interesting than how Ben and Sean became friends at school...

“Oh God,” Sean commented as he and Ben looked at the available school dinner, he pointed to the chilli that was being served, “remind you of anything?”

“Ugh,” Ben looked up at Sean, “you know we’re not allowed to eat chilli around each other anymore,” he laughed.

“Reckon I should risk it?”

“No! I refuse to live through the trauma again,” Ben groaned, so he and Sean both opted for something else from the selection. They sat down at the table with the group. 

“Not getting the chilli?” Noah asked, “why not? It’s good chilli!”

Ben and Sean looked at each other, and then to their friend, “have you not heard about the incident?” Ben asked, letting out a laugh, “how Sean and I met?”

“Never.”

“Grab your popcorn,” Sean whispered, “it’s a great tale!”

* * * * * 

Ben had given the chilli a try, apparently it was a first year’s mistake, some older student had commented it as he stood behind him in the dinner queue. Ben ignored the comment – he discovered later that he should not have ignored it, this discovery was made when he rushed into the closest boy’s bathroom… All of the cubicles bar one were closed and he quickly ran into it, he pushed the door closed and turned the lock – there was no time for him to even check the cubicle door before he pulled down his trousers and underwear.

The chilli had been… A terrible idea. And apparently other boys were having the same issue.

It was somewhat a relief, and he was glad he had made it in time…

He heard someone else rush into the bathroom, and then suddenly his cubicle door opened – apparently the lock didn’t work as he should have, the boy who ran in collapsed onto his knees and proceeded to throw up … 

Ben had started screaming when the door opened, but now that there was a boy hunched over his naked lap throwing up… He was even more hysterical.

“CLOSE THE DOOR! AT THE VERY LEAST! CLOSE THE DOOR!” He had screamed, knowing the boy in front of him had clearly been in a rush, “PLEASE! KICK IT CLOSED!”

The boy did so as he finally stopped throwing up, “I- I am so sorry,” he looked up at Ben.

“Well… It’s happened now,” Ben grumbled, he looked down at his lap and then closed his eyes, “gross.”

“I uh…”

“You had the chilli?”

“Yeah.”

“Same,” Ben whispered, “so… Are you just gonna… Sit there?”

“Oh, right,” the other boy cleared his throat, he stood up, and his eyes went wide before he fell back down and threw up again.

“OH COME ON!” Ben screamed again, “WHY DID YOU AIM FOR MY LAP!?”

“What the hell is going on in there?” Someone in the next cubicle asked.

“Someone’s throwing up on my lap,” Ben explained through the cubicle partition.

“That’s fucking weird.”

“I know!”

“I’m sorry,” the boy apologised, in the next few moments, the boy got up and ran out of the cubicle, leaving Ben to clear up the mess by himself.

At the end of the day, Ben wondered out of the school building and over to the bike shed where he had his bike locked up. He began unlocking his bike, and it wasn’t too long until someone else appeared to unlock the bike next to his. 

The owner of the bike was facing away from him, “hey, I like your bike!” Ben offered kindly, hoping to make a friend.

“Oh, thanks,” the boy laughed and turned around.

Both boys went wideeyed.

“You!” Ben yelped, dropping his bike lock.

“Oh… Uh… Hi,” the boy offered a nervous smile, “listen, I am… Really sorry about the… You know-“

“Throwing up on my lap, twice?”

“Yeah.”

Ben nodded slowly, “I’m Ben, by the way,” he offered out his hand.

“Sean, Sean Matthews,” the boy replied, shaking Ben’s hand. 

They both unlocked their bikes and – after Ben had picked up his bike lock from the floor – they began to walk out of the school grounds together, “your accent,” Ben began as he looked at the boy, “Don’t tell me, is it…”

“Go on, you can figure it out!”

“Scottish?”

“Congratulations,” Sean laughed softly, “gold star for Ben!”

They went quiet for a moment, and then Ben spoke again, “you, uh, you saw a lot of me earlier… Didn’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah I did.”

“Okay, uh…”

“I think we kind of have to be friends now,” Sean hummed, “there’s got to be some kind of rule.”

“Well, I haven’t really got any friends yet so… I think I could totally do with a friend.”

“Alright, so it’s official – we are friends.”

* * * * *

“That is absolutely vile,” Danielle commented once the story was finished.

“The sick, or Sean seeing me with my pants around my ankles?”

“Both,” Danielle retorted to Ben, giving a mocking smile. Ben imitated her false smile and then rolled his eyes.

“True love,” Noah snorted out a love.

“Exactly,” Sean clapped his hands together, “find yourself a romcom with that plot!”


	6. Incident #6: Ana's Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumours start to spread after a simple misunderstanding.

“Benjamin Evans, you cheeky little son of a bitch,” Sean slammed his hands down on the table as he stared at his friend.

“What?” Ben looked up, holding a half-finished carton of orange juice.

“You and Ana?” Sean raised his eyebrows, “you said you were going to tell me when you lost your virginity! How come I had to find out from someone else, hm?”

“Uh, Sean, I didn’t-“

“What was it like, hm? Or was it totally awkward?”

“It was totally non-existant!” Ben snapped, “I haven’t had sex with Ana!”

“Oh, sure, want to keep it lowkey?” Sean laughed, “Ben, come on, you can tell me! I’m your best friend.”

“Mm, yeah, sure,” Ben rolled his eyes, “Sean, I’m not lying, I haven’t had sex with Ana!”

“Oh,” Sean cocked his head, “but Danielle said…”

Ben rolled his eyes at the name, “of course, Danielle spreading rumours – not much surprising about that, is there?”

“Ben…”

“Hello there, boys,” Danielle laughed in a shrill voice, “and if it isn’t our very own Ben, he’s a big boy now, hm?”

Ben narrowed his eyes at her and scoffed, “I haven’t had sex with Ana, Danielle, so stop lying to people.”

“What?” Danielle’s expression changed, she cocked her head, “but Ana said that you had!”

Ben stared at Danielle, it seemed as though she was being honest with her words, Ben looked around when – on cue – Ana joined the table. 

“Hey,” Ana smiled to the other three, they all turned to her.

“Ana, why did you tell Danielle that we had sex?” Ben instantly asked.

“What? I didn’t!”

“Ana!” Danielle gasped and looked at the girl in pure shock, “yes you did!”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Okay, um, yes you did! You said ‘Ben and I slept together last week’!”

“Yeah! We did!”

Ben’s expression softened and he began to chuckle, “oh, I get it,” he smiled at the other couple, “Danielle – we didn’t have sex, Ana stayed over mine last week, and we slept next to each other.”

“Oh…”

Ana cocked her head, “that’s what I said!”

“No,” Ben placed his hand over Ana’s, “you said we ‘slept together’ and basically… Saying that usually means ‘had sex’.”

“Oh,” Ana began to join the laughter, “I’m so sorry, I told you I’m bad with English,” she covered her mouth as she laughed, “I’m so sorry Ben.”

“It was a simple mistake,” Ben pulled up Ana’s hand and gently kissed her knuckles in a sweet fashion, “no need to worry about it.”

Ana smiled brightly at the boy, Sean raised his eyebrows, “so does this mean that Danielle and I are still the only ones who have had sex?”

“Oh my God, Sean,” Ben sighed before glaring at his best friend, “you’re terrible.”


	7. Incident #7: Mystery Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben has an odd run in at a Halloween party, and later tries to figure out the odd mystery.

Ben looked around the party, Julie had decided to host a halloween party - and it being Julie meant that Noah and Kaylee weren’t invited after the handstand incident. She had still decided to invite Ben, Sean, and Danielle though. Sean had cancelled on Ben, but to make up with it he offered his costume to Ben. Ben had wondered how Sean got hold of such a good costume considering the boy claimed that he could barely afford to eat in the evening. But still, Ben had accepted the offer and was now dressed up as Batman - and surprisingly nobody else was dressed up as the hero. He grabbed a drink from the table and pulled a face, he didn’t know why he had decided to come to a party when his friend wouldn’t be there. He didn’t really get on with anyone else, and the party would be far more fun with Sean around. He pressed his lips together as he thought what he could do - nobody would really notice if he just left…

“Hey,” a voice caught Ben’s attention, when he turned around, a hand was placed on his shoulder and then suddenly he had someone pressing up against him - his lips were against someone else’s and he had no clue who she actually was. 

He gave into the kiss, noticing how much the girl seemed to be enjoying it. He eventually placed his hand on the girl’s waist, there was nothing wrong with this - sure he had no idea who the girl was, but he wasn’t dating anyone so maybe he could actually finally change that. The girl pulled away and smiled. He couldn’t tell who it was seeing as she was wearing a masquerade style mask, and a pastel blue wig.

Ben quickly looked around the room, completely confused.

“I-” Ben began,but he then stopped. In a panic, he let out a laugh and then turned away. The girl didn’t speak, at least not before Ben had ran off. 

* * * * *   
The Monday after the Halloween party, Ben was sat at a table eating his lunch, Sean was glancing around the hall curiously.

“She must go here, right? Your mystery girl?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ben pulled a face, “Sean, I’m the one who ran away from her, it’s not some Cinderella story.”

“Oh, but it is,” Sean gasped, “but you’re Cinderella!”

“God,” Ben rolled his eyes and examined his food, “it doesn’t matter. I kissed her, and I ran off. I got spooked by it, I don’t know if I can just hook up with someone at a party! I’m not that kind of guy, Sean!”

“Not what kind of guy?” Danielle asked as she sat next to Sean, she looked at her boyfriend momentarily and then looked away.

“Ben had a mystery kiss at the party the other day,” Sean laughed, grinning at his best friend, “my boy was so close to getting laid.”

”Sean!”

“I’m kidding,” Sean snorted out a laugh, he looked to Danielle, “you were at the party, weren’t you? You might know something!”

“Of course I was,” Danielle scoffed at Sean, “you just left me there, remember?”

“Hm?”

Danielle glared at Sean, “you left me at the party! And you haven’t picked up any of my calls since!”

“My phone is broken,” Sean shrugged, “has been since the other day… And I didn’t go to the party in the end,” Sean let out a quick laugh, “sorry.”

“You… Didn’t?”

“Nope, I gave Ben my costume. I mean, we were going to go as Batman and Robin, but Ben can’t just go as Robin, so I let him be Batman instead.”

“You…” Danielle looked at Ben, “you were Batman?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, cool,” Danielle let out a brief laugh and then stood up, “I need to…”

“Ah, Danielle - what did you go as in the end?”

Danielle looked between the two boys and gave a smile, “uh, you know… Just-”

”Danielle?”

“I really have to go to the toilet, sorry!” Danielle ran away from the table, leaving the boys alone and confused.

Ben watched the girl curiously, whilst Sean only laughed at his girlfriend’s panic, “she’s an odd one, huh?”

Ben nodded slowly, “yeah, she is.”

* * * * *

“Danielle!” Kaylee stopped her in the hallway, “hey, I need to ask you something!”

“Hm, yes?” Danielle tried to cover up her panic as she looked at Kaylee, “what is it?”

“Okay, so Noah and I are thinking of making a music video over the weekend, I was wondering if I’d be able to borrow that blue wig you have?”

“How do you know about my wig?” Danielle cocked her head, her eyes were wide.

“Oh, pictures of the Halloween party? Tagged on your Facebook?”

“Pictures of the- Oh, uh… Yeah, you can borrow the wig!” She let out a quick laugh, “yeah sure,” she pulled out her phone and rushed to her Facebook page.

“What are you doing?”

Danielle looked up at Kaylee, “I can’t… Let my mum see these? She thinks I was at a sleepover,” she lied quickly and let out an awkward laugh, “so I have to untag myself,” she quickly worked through each photo she was in and eventually she had managed to untag herself from each photo. “Great, that was terrifying.”

“I bet,” Kaylee smiled to her friend.

“I’ll bring the wig in tomorrow.”

“Thank you!”  
* * * * *  
Ben had never found the mystery girl whilst they were in school - in fact it was much later on when he found out just who he had kissed. He had practically forgotten about it all, he had began dating Ana, their relationship bloomed. They broke up not too long after, then Skye showed up - then there was the drama between him, Skye, and Sean… And then he had been alone. Danielle had confessed to Ben that she liked him, and that had been playing on his mind. Things really had changed since he had been at school.

It was after Enduro, Ben had found Danielle once again… But Danielle hadn’t met him like they planned - so he wasn’t too excited to see her.

”Ben,” she spoke in a gentle voice when she caught sight of him, “I… Uh… I need to-”

“Why didn’t you show up?” Ben asked suddenly, looking her in the eyes, “for all you know… Maybe I was going to say ‘let’s give it a try’ but you kind of lost that chance.”

“I know, I’m sorry! I was with Alex and Skye, we were looking for the treasure…”

Ben’s expression softened, he cocked his head, “you were… With Alex and Skye?”

“Yes.”

“You were putting your friends first,” Ben whispered, he began to smile at her, “I uh… I guess I can’t really be mad at you.”

“You can’t?”

He then let out a quick laugh, “I can’t,” he looked into the girl’s eyes, “so uh… You really like me?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

Danielle hesitated, she looked around and then took a step closer to Ben, “okay so… You kind of… Can’t tell anyone…”

“Uh, okay?”

“Do you remember that party? The Halloween one? Where you dressed up as Batman?”

Ben nodded, “oh yeah, with the mystery girl.”

“Yeah,” Danielle chewed on her lower lip for a moment, “so… Mystery girl is not so much a mystery to me…” Ben’s eyebrows raised up curiously, Danielle then continued, “that Halloween, I decided to go as some kind of fairy queen,” she examined Ben’s face as she spoke slowly, waiting to see something change, “specifically… A fairy queen with blue hair,” that was the drop, Ben’s face immediately changed.

“You!”

“Yes… I thought you were Sean! He told me that he was going to the party as Batman, and you were the only Batman there! So, I kissed you… Thinking you were Sean. When I found out it was you I had kissed,” she paused again and looked around as though someone might hear, she then turned back to him and looked into his eyes - as much as she could of course, his eyes were darting around, seeming to be examining Danielle, “I actually realised I did like you - I had thought you were attractive beforehand, but after I knew we had kissed… I kind of wanted to kiss you again.”

A small smile began to form on Ben’s face, he stepped closer to Danielle, “well, your time has come,” he let out a chuckle and leaned down to kiss Danielle’s lips - and there were still memories of the kiss from the party. Things had changed now, and even though the thought of accidentally kissing his best friend’s girlfriend made Ben uncomfortable… He was happy that Danielle had been the mystery girl.


End file.
